Launderette

Fun, inviting, exciting but familiar — these are the hallmarks of great neighborhood restaurants. Launderette figured that out early on and has stuck to the script. The personalities of restaurants often mirror the styles of the chefs who run them, and that is certainly the case with this East Austin spot, where chefs Rene Ortiz and Laura Sawicki have created a cross-cultural menu that enlivens the senses and comforts the soul.

Dishes like tart labneh with earthy beet hummus, a sweet salad of zucchini and pine nuts, a juicy burger with bacon in the grind and sweet and spicy piri piri grilled shrimp have come to define Ortiz’s eclectic style at this venue, and Sawicki, one of the state’s best pastry chefs, mixes highly creative and complex creations like buttermilk panna cotta topped with arugula-basil granita and pickled watermelon rind and ringed with rye crumble with elevated evocations such as a strawberry icebox pie with lemon yuzu curd and black sesame meringue.